Blizzard Beach

This was the most fun day of our trip. Both of us readily agree. Blizzard Beach waterpark is the best waterpark I have ever been to, and in Brent's opinion it is only topped by some waterpark he's been to in Wisconsin.

The theming was in true Disney fashion, right down to the minutest detail. The "history" of the park is that long ago there was a freak snowstorm in Florida, so Disney started building a ski resort. But before the resort was finished the sun came out again and melted most of the snow, making skiing impossible. But the ski resort was there, nonetheless, so they made a waterpark out of it.

The rides were great. We went on them over and over again. The two of us became very competitive at the racing rides, but try as I might I never beat Brent. >:( Jerk. Punk.

I loved that the bathrooms looked just like rustic skiing lodges and that the men's were labeled "Snowmen" while the women's were labeled "Sleigh Bells." I loved that if you ordered an icy cold drink, such a a frozen mocha, they served it to you in a hot coffee cup and lid...no straw. I loved you could purchase a sand bucket and have it filled with the ice cream of your choice to share with your family. I love that they served hot and fresh mini donuts sprinkled with sugar. I loved that their wave pool was constantly waving, and that the lifeguards were always friendly and ready to start waterfights with you. I loved that the main restaurant in the park was called "Lottawatta Lodge," because it was fun to say.

I only have four pictures because we didn't bring a camera, only our camera phones. All of the pictures were taken with the motive of sending them to Hunter to make him jealous, because he has long dreamt of going to Blizzard Beach. And the first two photos are of the cleverly themed mini-golf course right next to the waterpark that I got a kick out of.

Magic Kingdom

It was like being in a parallel universe. It truly was. It was exactly the same as Disneyland -- just...different. I told Brent I was sure that our ferry boat ride to the Magic Kingdom had somehow transferred us through a wormhole and that it was imminent that we would run into a parallel version of ourselves, the same -- just...different. By the end of the day we admitted to ourselves that we were homesick for Disneyland.

Although, Disneyland isn't just a boat ride away from the Grand Floridian, Disney's version of the Hotel Del Coronado.

Ugh. See all those people? They were everywhere. The whole day. You could not escape from them. I guess perhaps a Friday on the advent of spring break season was not the best day to attempt the Magic Kingdom.

Look at this bird just hangin' out on top of a churro stand. What a handsomely arrogant fellow. See his tail feathers swooshing in the breeze? Oh, you don't? This picture didn't capture that? Well I saw them. They were handsome tail feathers, and they were swooshing in the breeze.

We were just about to take a raft over to Tom Sawyer Island when we found out that the reason we were heading over there was nonexistant. I had read about Aunt Polly's Inn, an establishment on the island that served sandwiches and fantastic lemonade that you could sip while sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch that gazed out onto the river. But the river boat driver broke the news to us that the Inn had been closed for years. :(

Ok, I will give the Magic Kingdom this: the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse is still the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Not the Tarzan treehouse. It even featured the pulley system that constantly brought up fresh cups of water from the creek below.

The Treehouse was tied for first as my favorite attraction of the day. The other winner was the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club. It was a hilarious audience-interactive stand-up comedy show featuring Mike Wasowski.

And here we are with Space Mountain in the background, taken from the nearby Contemporary Resort.

Fun day, but in the end, we're happy Disneyland is our home...not the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World.

Epcot

Our second full day in Orlando was, thank the Lord, the only one that it thunder-stormed the ENTIRE day. Brent and I weighed our options and determined that Epcot would be the best theme park to tackle in such weather, as it features many indoor attractions. We armed ourselves with ponchos and marched out into the fury, obstinately refusing to have anything but a wonderful day on vacation.

BTW, Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt Disney's dream was that it would be a real community where people lived and worked. It was to be the showpiece of American advances in technology put on display in the citizens' homes, methods of transportation, the community's energy efficiency, etc. Walt's dream never came true, and instead, Epcot opened as a theme park hosting many scientific exhibits that are still updated on a regular basis. Today, half of the park is devoted to science and half of it is devoted to the nations of the world, featuring the highlights of many different nations in Epcot's World Showcase Pavilions.

Right outside the entrance to Epcot, just minutes before the park opened.

After exhausting all of the interesting-looking rides and exhibits in the science part, we sat down for lunch in England's Rose & Crown Pub for fish and chips. Oh my...I just remembered. The Rose & Crown was where we ordered a trio of breads and cheeses that came with complementary spreads and such. We could not figure out what one of the spreads was made of...our best guess was apricot and horseradish. We finally asked a waitress what it was and she informed us it was onion jam. *GAG*

In France, I introduced myself to Belle and the Beast. In truly starstruck fashion I told Beast that he was very intimidating as he took my hand. Belle told me not to say that, for it wounded him to think he still appeared to be a menace.

When Belle and the Beast didn't have anyone wanting their picture taken with them, their focus was centered on each other. I announce to you, ladies and gentlemen, after all these years, they are still very much in love. Extremely mushy and gushy with each other.

I had read in my guidebook that there was a fantastic pastry shop in France, so we made sure to stop for some dessert after lunch. It was embarrassing how long Brent and I took to decide what we wanted...there were SO many options and all of them looked like the best! Even more embarrassing was that we ordered four pastries for the two of us! My choices were this AMAZING almond cake and a gigantic cream puff. Brent chose chocolate mousse (incredible) and a chocolate eclaire. He scarfed the eclaire down in the amount of time it took me to say "yum," but the chocolate mousse we saved and savored over the next few mornings before breakfast.

Hey, relax. Chill. We were on vacation. Don't judge.

*sniff* After my almond cake, I was too full to try the cream puff. It didn't save well in our hotel room fridge, and by the time I tried a bite of it a few days later it was unquestionably stale. *tear*

We ate dinner in Mexico that night, at the closest thing that WDW has to the Blue Bayou. We stepped inside a Mayan pyramid to find a beautiful twilight restaurant situated at the base of another pyramid, with a glowing and rumbling volcano in the background. It was the most romantic restaurant that perhaps we have ever eaten at together. These camera phone pictures truly do not do it justice.

And so concluded our day at Epcot.

Kennedy Space Center

You guys: Hayley Tyler has now been to the Kennedy Space Center, and her life is one step closer to being complete.

It is hard to put into words what I was feeling that day. I was a total geekazoid tourist; I was perfectly at home. At some points close to tears. Cheesy, I know, but it's the truth.

In typically Hayley fashion I fell asleep in the passenger seat on the 1-hr drive from our resort to the space center. When I awoke, the first thing that announced to me where we were was the looming Vehicle Assembly Building in the distance. I pointed it out to Brent and gazed and gazed and gazed until it was no longer in view.

As we approached the visitor parking lot I saw a sign that was flashing news about the space center. When I read the words, "Space Shuttle Endeavor is on Launch Pad 39a" I screamed and almost fell out of the car while it was moving. I hadn't dreamt I would be able to see a shuttle pointing toward the sky on a launch pad, but it appeared to be so.

Upon entrance of the visitor center Brent and I marched straight to catch our behind-the-scenes tour bus that we had purchased tickets for. I snapped this photo from my seat on the bus. Cute gate huh? Would any of you complain if I had this gate recreated for my home when we have a house?

Fun fact of the day: The Kennedy Space Center property doubles as a wildlife conservatory. There are many acres of open space within the KSC land, hundreds of marshes, and miles of rivers jetting out into the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, this post will have a mixture of space nerd photos and pictures of birds and animals.

The Vehicle Assembly Building.

I found myself so jealous of the pelicans (and all of the other wildlife on the reserve). They have no idea of the PRIVILEGE of where they live. They have no way of appreciating the fact that they are sitting right across the water from the homes of the Endeavor, Discovery, and Atlantis. That whenever they please, they could fly to a high perch on top of the launch tower from which Apollo 11 left the Earth.

Dolphin fin.

The Vehicle Assembly Building, in all it's glory.

This is where the big orange external tank undocks after its voyage from somewhere in Louisiana.

This is the road that the space shuttle travels as it perches on the mobile launch platform on the giant crawler on its way to a launch pad. The giant crawler straddles the strip of grass, it's enormous wheels taking up the entire width of each rocky strip.

The highlight of my day. The Endeavor is just behind the external tank and the solid rocket boosters. Unfortunately this is the closest we got to seeing the actual shuttle. Even if we could have gone to a viewing location on the other side of the launch tower, the shuttle would have been hidden from view by the launch tower arm that covers it to protect it and provide easy access for the technicians that need to touch it up before its April 19th launch into space.

Is this picture for real? This is the closest the public is allowed to the launch pad. We were 800 meters away from it. On launch day, even this distance is too close. 800 meters away from the launch the sound waves alone would kill you. Three miles from the launch pad is the closest safe distance when those rockets start burning their fuel.

This bunker is left over from the Apollo days. I'm trying to remember what our tour guide said it was used for. It provided protection for some piece of equipment during each launch...wish I could remember what equipment that was.

The next stop on our tour took us to this close up view of the Vehicle Assembly Building. If I could just be on the technicians who gets to work in there, I would be perfectly content. Each shuttle gets prepped for launch for WEEKS in there before it is taken to the launch pad.

One of the giant crawlers.

An old married eagle and his wife, keeping watch over their nest. Did you know eagles mate for life? And return to the same nest every year to raise their next set of kids?

This guy was just chillin' in a marsh just yards away from the space shuttle re-entry runway. He was just one of the thousands of alligators on the KSC land, and one of 25+ that we saw that day.

After our behind the scenes bus tour, we got to view the Apollo era launch control center. These are the very computer consoles from which Apollo 11 and Apollo 13's launches were controlled.

A recovered Apollo command module.

A space helmet worn on the moon.

The underbelly of a full-size replica of a space shuttle on display at the KSC Visitor Complex.

These pictures still take my breath away. This is Hayley Tyler inside a (replica) space shuttle payload bay.

The Rocket Garden. So much history on display here.

The Space Center closed to the public at the shocking hour of 5, but somehow Brent and I managed to stay on the property till close to 6, snapping pictures and reveling in our patriotic fervor for the glory of our nation's space age.

It was the best. day. ever.